The Giver Continued
by desi.reader
Summary: Ever wondered what happens to Jonas and Gabe after they reach the Christmastime Village? Ever wonder about the Community's past? This is my version of the Giver ending. Grade 8 English assignment... please please please R&R! Rated T for safety.


**- The Giver contd. -**

Jonas held Gabe closer. He could tell that the child was asleep. "Just a little bit further," he whispered. The Christmas time village was right there. "They're waiting for us Gabe,"

The Giver looked down into his old, weathered palm and smiled lightly. Some how, he knew his protégé would be okay.

Jonas pulled the sled to a stop. He remembered the dream he had so long ago. The dream that came with his first memory. The dream of something out there, him searching but never discovering. He never got there in the dream but now he would in reality. He faintly heard the tinkling of bells. He trudged slowly towards the sound. _Gabe is getting big now_, he mused to himself. The sound was getting louder now and he could see the warm glow of a fire coming from a window. He could almost feel the heat. He had nearly forgotten how that had felt like. He smiled softly because he knew his community would feel it. _Maybe everything will change and then we could go back_, he thought hopefully. But he knew in his heart that it was probably not possible now. Right now Giver was most likely trying to tame the fervid rush of emotions coming from the dwellers back home. _No, not home anymore_. He had left that place searching for a home filled with love. Like the love he had for Gabe right now. An image of his father 'killing' the smaller twin flashed in his head again. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. _Not to Gabe_, he said quite strongly. _Not to Gabe_.

Jonas got to the door and knocked on it lightly. It was a smooth hard surface, but welcoming and warm at the same time. Doors back in the community were hard cold metal. It was against the rules for the doors in the community to be locked, but Jonas had a feeling that he was supposed to knock first. The door opened and he felt a soothing blast of warm air. It was an Old woman who had opened the door. She had such a sweet smile that Jonas thought they had met before. Her skin was leathered and the colour of oak.

"What is your name son?" the Old woman asked.

"I'm J-J-Jonas," he stuttered. "Th-This is Gabe." After a few moments, Jonas felt the warmth surround him and his mind went blank.

"Are you sure he's the one?" a deep male voice said.

"Of course! Who else could it be?" said a female. Jonas opened his eyes slowly. He could tell by the light on the walls that the fire was dimming down It was a slightly eerie glow. All of a sudden like the rush of a waterfall, the day's events came back to him.

"Gabe! Where's Gabe?" he shouted, forgetting all rules of politeness.

"Calm down son, the kid's all right. He's drinking some warm milk in the kitchen. He keeps saying Jo-is," A man said. He was dressed in a deep maroon sweater and blue pants. He was tall and broad. Jonas looked up meekly.

"He means Jonas. I'm Jonas his… brother." Jonas said, feeling quite awkward.

"I'm Nathan. This is my mother Kate." He said, gesturing towards the Old woman he had seen earlier. "If you don't mind me asking, where did you come from?"

Jonas looked at Kate hesitantly. She gave him a knowing look and he felt reassured. He saw Gabriel crawling towards him and he sat in his lap. Jonas ran his hand through Gabe's thick mop of curly blonde hair and smiled. He knew he could tell them. He took a deep breath and began.

"And that's when we ended up here." Jonas finished. He looked to see the expressions on their faces. Nathan looked troubled and heaved a deep breath. Kate looked as if she was about to say something but then there was a creaking sound and she turned her head towards a stairway. A young girl that looked about Lily's age came down.

"What's wrong Daddy? I heard voices," the little girl said rubbing her eyes.

"Come here Mira," Nathan called the girl to her side. "Meet Jonas and his little brother Gabriel,"

"Hello," she said shyly. Jonas nodded at her and turned to Nathan again.

"Oh yes, your story," Nathan remembered. "There's a legend that sounds a lot like what you're talking about. But I always thought it to be an old wives' tale and never paid much attention to it. Mother knows much more about this."

"Old wives' tale?" Jonas wasn't aware of this term.

"It means just a story, son. As in not real," Kate smiled. "This happened long ago. Before you, before me and back and back and back…" Jonas felt his jaw drop at the sound of the familiar saying and suddenly wished for the Giver to be there.

"The world was going through a rough time. Warfare and death was all around us. A group of scientists called the Redcoats were trying to find a solution that would end all of this suffering. One of them came up with the bizarre idea of building a city, far away from this world. It would be a safe haven for human beings. A way of starting over, he had said. No war, no government, no money. Everything that had destroyed our world would not exist in the new one. Officials quickly discarded the idea, but it still remained after he died. They decided to try it out. There, everything was controlled. Even weather. All was going well until someone who wasn't supposed to get in, did. It was chaos and they didn't know what to do. So they decided to make it so no one could get in and no one could get out. The Redcoats carefully observed random people and brought a group of 50 strangers together and paired them together to make 25 couples. They gave each couple two babies, one boy and one girl. After those 50 people, no one was allowed in after that. It seemed like that place was our only hope for those of us on the outside but we soon found out that wasn't the case. After a couple of years, a Rebellion formed. A break-in at the facilities Hall of Closed Records by the Rebellion told us all that we needed to know. They had invented a program called Sameness. Everything was the same. Same to the extent that there were exactly the same amount of males and females. They had found out how to change human DNA so that they could not see in colour. Therefore they would not have any arguments over race, nationality and the colour of their skin. Poor Redcoats. They wanted everything to be perfect, but they had gone too far. In eliminating all the vices of this world, they erased some good too. Suddenly, nothing had any depth or meaning. We all realized how much we would be missing out on and most of the world came to peace. We invited the Redcoats to come back for everything was settling down but they had refused. We like our perfect world and we'll never go back, they declared! Soon, more Redcoat communities were built, far away from the 'real' world. They were never going to come back.

"Soon though, they realized that they needed all the information from our history and our world in order to make perfect decisions; so they will not repeat mistakes. So they created a special job and he who was assigned this job held all the memories of this world because-"

"Memories are forever," Jonas whispered, quoting the Giver. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His community _chose_ to go to Sameness? Even after things changed back in the 'real' world? He looked at Kate, urging her to go on.

"Exactly. Memories are forever. So they kept passing down these memories of our world, forcing one unfortunate individual to be burdened by all pain and sadness. But also enlightened by all love and happiness. That world had now lost all emotion and heart. They 'killed' people to bring 'balance' to their world. They didn't even remember that what they were doing was wrong. All they saw was orderly, controlled and perfect. But, all good things must come to and end. Everyone knew that one-day, Sameness would end. A wild man of that time was always raving about a boy who would bring the future of the community back here and everything would change. Some people believed him, some didn't. You are that boy Jonas."

Jonas looked at Kate. Her eyes were closed and she looked so serene. He looked at Nathan who seemed as if he had heard this story too many times and he was cradling Mira to sleep. Had Jonas _really_ changed everything? That was what he had wanted right?

He looked down at Gabe who had fallen asleep with his head on Jonas' shoulder. He looked at the way Nathan held Mira. He remembered the Christmas scene, now just a tiny wisp of a memory, and knew, he had done the right thing.

**- The End -**


End file.
